Reflecting on what an intern has learned about her students

I've gained more of an awareness of the refugee community. I'll be honest, before Iskashitaa I wasn't even aware that there were refugees in Tucson, let alone the United States, it was just something I had never thought about. And from gaining that awareness, I'm starting to notice things I hadn’t before, or had never really given much thought to. Like, how we structure our society and the way we run things, and how that will affect certain groups of people. As an example, we are a very writing and reading based society, and if you aren't literate in the traditional sense, it's almost impossible to find a job, and you will be looked down upon for it. And it's not like the English writing system is easy to learn! Especially for people who only have limited knowledge of English. By teaching these classes, I'm more in favor of a completely phonetic system of writing that doesn't make English writing doubly hard to learn.

-Kelsey Rivers, HCET Intern